KSLJ (Bust) -- Prepwork II

Next comes the prepping/fitting of the head. 

Just as a reminder, I selected the largely unrecognized "third" head: the leprous knight. This is an exceptional sculpture that will amply reward thorough research, and deliberate and judicious painting.

Clean-up is fairly straight forward with few surprises and/or pitfalls. Fitting will be less straightfor- ward, as the head is locked in place by the ventail. I recommend proceeding carefully and dryfit- ting often. Once the ventail is fitted, the head should follow in short order. 

BUT. . . before you go attaching anything permanently, a historical note of no mean interest. The kit is provided with a drop-down, bilateral, bib ventail. Which is fine, if somewhat anachronistic. What isn't fine is the fact the the facial opening of the coif is is "closed" as well as edged in sewn leather: "closed" coifs were not used with bib ventails. 

This is what one should be striving for:


This is a fairly straightforward modification, the difficulty of which will largely depend on your "requirements". In my iteration, I will have to resculpt some of the mail to restore the volume lost by removal of the tailored coif.

There may be some issues with the overall length of the ventail, but this may be going too far. . . The options, as I see them, are: 1) perform the above mods; or, 2) delete the ventail altogether.

As a final note, the small matter of the two temporal loops off the edge of the helmet. The maa would lace the ties of the ventail through the loops and tie them off at the back/side of the head. I prefer the more 'direct' option: bilateral ties tied-into the coif itself. To this end, I have already re- moved the loops, and am now deciding on how best to proceed with the ties. Given the location of the helmet straps, you may not have to worry about this. . .

More to follow. . .

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003